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OAS CONVENES MEETING IN NEW YORK TO FIGHT POVERTY

The Organization of American States (OAS) has convened a high-level meeting to launch a new partnership to fight poverty in the Americas that comes at a time when the current economic crisis could reverse advances in poverty reduction made during the past five years.

The meeting will be held on September 22 in New York City, and will be inaugurated by OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, as well as US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton; President of Chile, Michele Bachelet; President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe; and New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, among other high-level officials. It will launch a new approach, called the Inter-American Social Protection Network or IASPN, to facilitate the exchange of information on best practices, policies, experiences and programs for fighting poverty and inequality in the Americas.

The day-long event will feature a variety of experts on subjects related to public and private initiatives that help the poor, protect the vulnerable against livelihood risks, and enhance the social status and rights of the excluded. Participants include high-level government officials, international organization representatives, civil society and private sector representatives, and academics. It will take place at the Westin in Times Square.

Dr. Francisco Pilotti, Director of the Department of Social Development and Employment of the OAS, is in charge of the project. He said the IASPN has received strong political support.

“The purpose of this Network is to be a network for teaching and learning,” he said. “It is a mechanism facilitated by the Organization of American States to assist countries in getting to know initiatives developed in sister countries and in that way to be able to strengthen their own institutions to better confront the challenge of halving poverty by the year 2015, a goal that was clearly established as the First Millennium Development Goal.”

Dr. Pilotti also indicated that the reason the Network has received such a strong political backing is that “in the region we still have more than 30 percent of our population living in conditions of poverty, 13 percent in extreme poverty. The poor today amount to more than 200 million people, and this has an evidently negative impact from every point of view: economic, social and also political, and that explains the preoccupation of heads of state with this project.

“The Network does nothing more than acknowledge that many countries in the region in recent years, especially during periods of democracy, have innovated, have created extremely successful, efficient and effective social programs. It is the case for example of Brazil, with Bolsa Familia, or of Mexico with Oportunidades, Familias en Acción of Colombia, Chile’s El Chile Solidario, and other countries that have undertaken more recent programs, Paraguay Solidario; these are examples of programs that have had a positive impact on overcoming poverty that has been empirically proven, and also in overcoming inequality. We don’t speak any longer only of overcoming poverty, which continues to be a very important goal and more specifically one of the Millennium Development Goals, but also of overcoming inequality.

“This is going to be a very interesting moment to be able to see the various forms of cooperation, not the typical North-South, from developed country to developing nation, but inversely, the assistance that our developing countries can provide to the developed world,” Pilotti concluded.

In recent years, many countries in the region, among them Chile, Mexico and Paraguay, have implemented social protection systems to combat extreme poverty with some success. Between 2003 and 2008, poverty levels in Latin America and the Caribbean fell from 44 to 33 percent of the total population, and indigence fell from 19 to 13 percent.

Yet the region remains the most unequal, in terms of income, in the world, while the current economic crisis threatens its successes. Studies estimate that the richest 10 percent of the population receives between 40 and 47 percent of total income, while the 20 poorest only receives between 2 and 4 percent of total income.

The IASPN originated in the V Summit of the Americas this year, when heads of state pledged to facilitate the exchange of information to address issues of poverty and inequality in the region. It was also inspired by agreements reached at the First Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities of Social Development.

The OAS has a long tradition of inter-American cooperation and has developed a close relationship with social development agencies throughout the region. As coordinator of the IASPN, the OAS will establish partnerships with a diversity of institutions with expertise in social protection policies and programs.

Reference: E-294/09